Yesterday, I was sitting at the reference desk at the library when I received a phone call from my daughter. Surprised to hear her small voice on the line, a wave of panic rolled through my gut and my body tensed for some bad news. They are at the hospital with her leg in a cast. Something’s happened to my husband and she is standing over his unconscious body in a pool of blood. You know, the wild imaginings a phone call can trigger.

But no. She received a letter. From London. A reply to the fan letter she sent a couple of months ago. I’ve been slightly worried that he wouldn’t respond, or that he would just send out a form letter. But no, the man, Chris Riddell, if you all must know, not only sent her a hand written letter responding directly to her inquiries (my daughter was fishing for a sneak peak at a chapter of his next book), but a picture of herself with one of the main characters in the book. On the envelope, which was also hand written, he drew her the main character waving a maple leaf.

Chris Riddell, just so you know: You made my daughter’s week with that letter. Thank you so much for taking the time to write back to her. You are now firmly placed in the pantheon of heroes in our house.